How to Play MKV Files and Enjoy MKV Multi-Track Features

Matroska[1] is a general used container format, and as a result of that MKV files can contain many tracks with different audio and video compression formats. Its most revolutionary features are supporting almost all the Video/Audio codecs, chapters/menu structure like DVD and Blu-ray have, as well as supporting unlimited Video/Audio/Subtitle tracks contained in one single file. Therefore, it is time to find component MKV Player software to play back MKV videos with diverse A/V codecs. Meanwhile, you can also enjoy a HD video viewing experience with MKV Multi-track feature.

Three MKV File Tapes Include:

MKV files contain video, subtitles and audio streams. The streams are likely compressed and have been produced with an encoder. In order to play these streams a codec is required. Codec, as a word is an abbreviation of Coder/Decoder. The video stream located in the MKV file has been "coded" by the source and now it must be "decoded" by the end user who wishes to play MKV video.

MKS: a so called 'elementary' matroska stream containing any subtitles stream.

It Is Quite Delightful to Enjoy MKV Multi-track Feature

Since MKV video is container format, it is possible to combine multiple videos from different shooting angle, several audio subtitle and language tracks into one single MKV file. So that you are allowed to play MKV video with advanced cinematic extras such as multiple audio tracks (e.g. director's commentary), multilingual subtitles, chapter points, bonus content and more.

How to Play MKV Video for Windows Users?

1. Play MKV on DirectShow based MKV players

There are two basic approaches to play back MKV video on Windows PC. The first is to play MKV on DirectShow based MKV players. Several media players based on DirectShow like Windows Media Player will play back MKV files perfectly if you have the proper codecs and filters installed.

Now, there's one common method that especially people new to digital video tend to use - download MKV codec pack. And it has two purposes. One is support diverse codecs contained in MKV file; the other is compatible with MKV video compression method. In principal you can play matroska files on almost every Media player on Windows if you have the latest CCCP playback pack.

2. Non-DShow Based MKV Player

The second option to play MKV video on Windows is get a non-DShow Based MKV Player. There are several very good MKV players right now who can make more than just support basic playback of Matroska files on Windows, but also offer specific support for the more advanced features of it. For instance, free 5KPlayer. Without installing codec pack, it can help play MKV videos/movies at any video resolution, such as 1920 x 1080, 4096 x 2160, etc.

How to play MKV files on Mac OS X?

1. QuickTime + Perian

Perian is a free QuickTime component that enlarges QT native support for many popular video formats which not quite "Mac Friendly". It works perfectly even "like a charm" for most of the MKV files on Mac.

2. Use other MKV playback program

Using VideoLAN VLC media player, which supports all the video and audio streams you will find in an MKV file. You need not to install any codecs or filters to play .MKV files.

And the other strongly recommended MKV player for Mac OS is 5KPlayer which has been mentioned above. It is not only able to play MKV on Windows, but also available to play back MKV video files on Mac. Simply drag and drop your MKV file into it, then you can enjoy MKV videos in high quality.

After you have learned how to play MKV video on Windows and Mac OS, you may be charmed by MKV Multi-track features. And to gain or create MKV video, you can download MKV from internet, backup and rip Blu-ray video to MKV, or you can even transfer AVCHD camcorder video to MKV format by convert M2TS to MKV.